“I also told them about other warning signs. “I told the police about prior incidents that I knew of in which Nikolas had put a gun to his mother’s head and to his brother’s head. “I told the officers that I was concerned that Nikolas would come back with a gun,” she said. She made another call after her son caught Nikolas Cruz punching holes in her walls and then got punched by Nikolas Cruz. “I was surprised because I thought that guns had to be locked away.” “The police said that anyone was allowed to bury a gun and that Nikolas was allowed to do that,” she said. The second call was made after she said her mother discovered Nikolas Cruz digging a hole in the backyard, with a large, empty gun box nearby that was the size of the hole. I told them that Nikolas was 19 years old, but I felt that mentally and emotionally he was similar to a 12-year-old.” They said they couldn’t stop him from buying or having possession of a gun. “I asked them if we could stop him from getting the gun that he purchased. “When the police came, we told them about the purchase of the gun and that we were very concerned,” she said. Her son called after her mother, who was living with her, found a receipt for a gun Cruz bought from Dick’s Sporting Goods. Nikolas Cruz stayed with her for less than a month after his mother’s death, but during that time, she said she and her family members were forced to call 911 three times. When he, his brother and their dogs moved in with her family in the Lantana Cascade mobile home community, she told Nikolas Cruz he could not bring his guns. “The boys were there and able to say their goodbyes to their mother, and they were all crying. “Lynda didn’t have much longer to live, so I immediately rushed to the hospital and spoke to Lynda and told her that I would keep my word and take care of her sons. “The next day, the nurse called me and asked me to come and get Lynda’s boys,” she said. Then late last year, his mother contracted pneumonia and entered the hospital. In 2016, Deschamps said, she promised his mother she would take care of her sons if anything happened. I saw Nikolas playing with and cleaning the guns.” “The guns that I observed were not hunting guns. “While I was there, I saw guns on the floor in the closet of Nikolas’ room,” she said. During a 2016 stay at their home, she said, she learned of Nikolas Cruz’s fascination with firearms. Unfortunately, although I did everything I could, I was not able to stop this tragedy from taking place.”Īs a family neighbor, she said, she became friends with his mother Lynda Cruz and took Nikolas Cruz and his brother Zachary Cruz to go bowling, play arcade games and go to a water park. I also wanted to protect Nikolas from himself. “I wanted to protect, not only my own children, but also anyone else who might be at risk of being harmed. “I did everything I could to warn law enforcement about what could happen,” she said, reading from a written statement and dabbing her eyes. She said she called the police, forbid Nikolas Cruz to have guns in her house and “begged” him to see a doctor for the depression he fell into after his mother’s death. Rocxanne Deschamps spoke at a news conference in New York City with her lawyer, Gloria Allred, marking the first time she publicly discussed what was happening at her home near Lantana when Nikolas Cruz and his brother Zachary Cruz lived with her and her family. The woman who took in Nikolas Cruz after his mother’s death broke her silence Tuesday afternoon, describing the future Parkland school shooter as a troubled young man who once put a gun to his mother’s head, displayed a deep attachment to military-style guns and engaged in behavior so frightening that her family called 911 three times.
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